BRATISLAVA:
The Slovakia festival due to welcome Kanye West next week has called off the event following the uproar over the US rapper’s May release of a song glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Before the July 20 gig was cancelled, Bratislava’s Rubicon hip hop festival was set to be West’s only confirmed live performance in Europe this year.
Though he has won 24 Grammy Awards over the course of his career, the erratic rapper has become notorious in recent years for his increasingly antisemitic and hate-filled rants.
West, who has legally changed his name to the shorthand “Ye”, released the song Heil Hitler on May 8, the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
In the wake of the announcement of West’s appearance at Rubicon, thousands of people signed a petition against the gig.
The rapper – a vocal supporter of US President Donald Trump – is “repeatedly and openly adhering to symbols and ideology connected with the darkest period of modern global history”, two groups behind the petition said.
In a statement on Instagram late on Wednesday, the festival’s organisers said the decision to cancel the event was “due to media pressure and the withdrawal of several artists and partners”.
“This was not an easy decision,” the organisers said, without drawing a direct line between the rapper’s planned appearance and the cancellations.
Contacted on Thursday by AFP, the Rubicon festival did not offer further explanations.
Styling itself as the central European country’s premier hip hop hang-out, the Rubicon festival was set to run from July 18 to 20.
US rappers Offset and Sheck Wes were set to share top billing with West.
Australia cancelled West’s visa on July 2 over Heil Hitler, in which West raps about his custody battle with ex-wife Kim Kardashian before the song ends with an extract of a speech by the Nazi dictator.
West’s wife, Bianca Censori, is Australian.
